Article of manufacture for preventing printing work-ups



June 21,1955 ,-A IT 2,111,131

ARTICLE OF MANUFACTURE FOR PREVENTING PRINTING WORK-UPS Filed June 14, 195iv Zwaym? I -./0///v/45M/rfl nited States Patent '0 ARTICLE OF MANUFACTURE FOR PREVENTING PRINTING WORK-UPS John A. Smith, Minneapolis, Minn.

Application June 14, 1951, Serial No. 231,544

2 Claims. (Cl. 101-402) This invention relates to an article of manufacture designed to prevent work-ups in printing forms.

In the setting up of printing forms leads and slugs are used to produce the desired spacing between horizontal lines. These leads and slugs extend horizontally across the form being set up and, during the printing operation, work up away from the bottom of the form so that they print and form blots between the lines of print.

It is an object of my invention to provide a novel and improved article of manufacture designed to prevent work-ups in printing forms.

More specifically, it is an object of my invention to produce a slight thickening along the lower marginal longitudinal edge portion of selected leads and slugs inserted into a printing form so that when the form is locked up the clamping pressure is applied to the side surfaces of the leads and slugs and engages the lower portions thereof with suflicient force to hold the same downwardly against the bottom of the form and prevents bulging and work-ups of the leads, slugs, quads, etc.

Still more specifically, it is an object to simultaneously thicken and roughen as by knurling the lower marginal edge portions of selected leads and slugs and thus produce yieldable thickened areas which produce uniformly of pressure over the entire slug high area of the printing elements locked up in the form.

It is another object to provide apparatus for thickening the lower marginal edge portions of strips such as leads and slugs used in printing forms by producing a knurled marginal edge portion along selected leads and slugs to both thicken and roughen the same.

These and other objects and advantages of my invention will more fully appear from the following description made in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein like reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views and in which:

Fig. l is a side elevational view of my knurling apparatus;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view thereof;

Fig. 3 is an end elevational view thereof;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken substantially along the lines 44 of Fig. l;

Fig. 5 shows a knurled spacing strip, such as a lead or slug, after havingbeen passed through my knurling machine;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary end elevational view showing the type slugs and a spacing slug in partially raised position illustrating a partial work-up, the lateral arrows representing the lockup pressure exerted thereon; and

Fig. 7 illustrates type slugs with a spacing slug having a knurled bottom marginal edge portion embodying my invention.

When the printing forms are locked up the pressure applied thereto extends only as high as the height of the leads and slugs and therefore the thickness of the type which extends thereabove will be somewhat greater than the thickness thereof at slug height since there is no compressive force actually exerted against the lines of type.

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This of course causes the base portions of the type adjacent the bottom of the form to tend to bulge up, as shown in Fig. 6. I have discovered that by'thickening the leads and slugs along the lower marginal edge portions thereof and properly distributing these thickened leads and slugs across the printing form that the diminished thickness at the bottom of the form, and hence the tendency to bulge up, could be entirely eliminated. In other words, by maintaining all of the. elements of the form in substantially vertical position with the thickness at the bottoms thereof substantially equal to the thickness at the type height, laterally exerted pressure by locking up the forms will not be resolved into an upward component tending to lift the printing elements and produce work-ups of the leads and slugs.

It is of course possible to cast certain leads and slugs with thickened base portions, but in the form of my invention illustrated I use conventional leads and slugs and thicken the lower marginal edge portions of a selected number of these by knurling the same. This knurling of course presses small grooves into the soft metal, such as lead, from which the leads and slugs are manufactured, and also presses up raised portions adjacent said grooves to thus simultaneously produce roughened and thickened areas along the lower marginal portions of these leads and slugs. This thickening along the base portions thereof will evenly distribute the laterally exerted lock up pressure and thus hold all of the printing elements in the form downwardly adjacent the bottom thereof. These raised portions produced by the knurling operation are of course slightly compressible, being formed from the lead of the leads and slugs, and thus will be self-adjusting to the proper thickness when pressure is applied thereto. The roughening also produced by the knurling operation resists upward shifting movement of the leads and slugs relative to the adjacent printing elements which also serves to hold the same downwardly against the bottom'of the form.

As illustrated in Figs. 1 through 4, I provide a machine for knurling the marginal edge portions of selected leads and slugs. A suitable supporting structure having a base 7 and an upstanding mounting member 8 is provided. A pair of jaw members are respectively mounted on one side of the mounting member 8 in vertically opposed normally spaced relation, one to the other. The jaw member 9 is fixed to the mounting member 8 as by the bolts 11, and the jaw member 10 is pivoted to the mounting member 8, as by the horizontally disposed pivot 15, extending through one end portion thereof. A resilient element 16 interconnects the other end portion of the swinging jaw member 10 with the upper portion of the mounting member 8. A pair of knurling wheels 12 and 14 are respectively journalled in the two jaw members 9 and 10 and both have roughened peripheries. These two wheels are mounted in recessed portions of the respective jaw members and the upper wheel 14 extends downwardly a slight distance below upper jaw 10 and the lower wheel 12 extends upwardly a slight distance above the lower jaw 9.

The lower wheel 12 journalled in the stationary jaw 9 is fixed to a shaft 12a which extends through the mounting member 8 and has a crank arm 13 with a handle 13a connected therewith for rotating the same. The spacing between the two wheels 12 and 14 may be easily adjusted by the adjustment screw 17 which is threadably inserted through a suitable supporting element of mounting member 8 and engages the upper portion of jaw 10 adjacent the swinging end thereof to adjustably project said end downwardly against the force of resilient element 16 to swing said jaw about pin 15 as a pivot. In the form shown the adjustment screw 17 is calibrated to facilitate the desired depth of knurling to be obtained. A supporting idler 18 is mounted in the mounting member 8 to suppor the elonga e lead 19 in substantially horizontal position as the same is passed through between the knurling wheels 12 and 14. The crank 13 of course rotates the driving wheel 12 which engages one side of the strip 19 to shift'the same longitudinally through the jaws, the idler wheel 14 engaging the opposite surface of said strip so that both sides are simultaneously knurled.

After the compositor has set up a form, the lock up man will examine the same and pick out certain leads and slugs to be knurled and then reinsert the same back into the form to equalize the increased thickness produced by the print above slug height and thereby maintain all of said printing elements in substantially upstanding relation so that the lock up pressure exerted. thereagainst will not tend to produce bulging thereof and ultimately cause work-ups in the form. It should be noted that the compressibly yieldable thickening produced by knurling the lower marginal edge portions of selected leads and slugs will also serve to correct for variations in thickness of Linotype as well as the unavoidable bevel on the ends of the Linotype slugs.

It will be seen that I have provided a highly etficient article of manufacture and apparatus for producing the same which will positively correct the cause of work-ups in printing forms by simultaneously thickening and roughening the lower marginal edge portions of selectively positioned leads and slugs in the form by producing the yieldable thickening as by knurling the surface of the soft lead or slug, excessive thickening Will be corrected by the lock up pressure and all of the printing elements will be maintained in substantially vertical position which will hold the same tightly against the back of the form and positively prevent work-ups during the printing operation.

My apparatus provides a highly efiicient device for knurling only a predetermined depth of the leads and slugs and can be mounted in a convenient location so that the lock up man may knurl selected leads and slugs without causing any great increase in the time required for completing his operation on the form.

It will, of course, be understood that various changes may be made in the form, details, arrangement and proportions of the parts without departing from the scope of my invention.

What I claim is:

1. A combination corrective strip and conventional spacer for use in a printing form to prevent arching upwardly of the lines of type due to lateral pressure thereon and to thus eliminate work-ups in assembled printing f rms, aid orre tive sp cer str p c mpris n n gated strip made of relatively soft ductile material capable of being deformed, said strip having conventional dimensions of length, width, and thickness with the lower portion of at least one side surface thereof having a multiplicity of closely spaced indentations with yieldably compressible raised ridges formed between adjacent indentations and projecting laterally outwardly from the plane of said strip surface to space the lower portions of adjacent printing strips farther apart than the upper portions, the raised ridges producing a roughened surface to also increase the frictional engagement between lower portions of adjacent strips and the yieldable compressibility of said ridges accommodating for irregularities in the strips forming the lines of strips across the printing form.

2. A combination corrective strip and spacer made from conventional ductile spacing material capable of beingdeformed, said spacer strip having the lower marginal portion of one vertical surface thereof roughened and thickened by a plurality of diagonally criss-crossed in- V dentations produced by localized pressure thereon and, producing between adjacent pairs of indentations yieldably compressible raised ridges projecting laterally out-' Wardly from the plane of said strip surface to thicken and roughen the lower portion of said strip and space the lower portions of adjacent strips farther apart than the upper portions while accommodating for irregularities of the strip surfaces and materially increasing the frictional engagement between the lower portions of adjacent strips with said alternate criss-crossed indentations and ridges preventing arching of the lines of type and work-ups resulting therefrom.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

